Centralize dependency versions using constants across multiple build.gradle files

[seankao-az]

Is your feature request related to a problem?
Currently, our project consists of several subprojects, each with its own build.gradle file. Many of these subprojects share common dependencies, and it's crucial that the versions of these shared dependencies remain consistent across all subprojects.

Current situation:

• Dependency versions are specified as string literals directly in each build.gradle file.
• When a shared dependency needs to be updated, we have to manually change the version in multiple build.gradle files. Examples:
  • bump commons-io to 2.14.0 #3083
  • Upgrade JSON to 20231013 to fix CVE-2023-5072 #2307
  • Bump guava version to 32.0.1 #1829
  • Bump org.json dependency version #1586
• This approach is error-prone and time-consuming, especially as our project grows.

What solution would you like?
Create a single source of truth for dependency versions in the root build.gradle, defining constants for each shared dependency version. Reference these constants in all subproject build.gradle files instead of using string literals.

[dblock]

[Catch All Triage - 1, 2, 3, 4]